PUBLIC LIVES

BROOKE SHIELDS, on a two-week break from her sitcom, ''Suddenly Susan,'' has gone almost unrecognized in Manhattan: she had to talk her way into the ''Saturday Night Live'' cast party the other night. She does look different from the way she did in ''Endless Love,'' ''The Blue Lagoon'' and all those television commercials in which nothing came between her and her Calvins.

The new look is for the James Toback film ''Black and White,'' which is being shot this week on the Upper East Side. Miss Shields plays a documentary filmmaker who chronicles a group of white high school students trying to imitate hip-hop stars. Also in the cast are ROBERT DOWNEY JR., BEN STILLER and CLAUDIA SCHIFFER.

But Ms. Shields is like a postmodern Cinderella, making the rounds of New York nightspots while the clock ticks toward her flight back to Hollywood. ''I'm not sure this is going to ring so wonderfully with the 'Suddenly Susan' crew,'' she said.

Then PAUL NEWMAN went to work. He and JOANNE WOODWARD, along with their daughter, NELL NEWMAN, and Ms. Close judged seven dishes made from recipes that call for products made by Newman's Own, the food company he started that gives its after-tax profits to charitable groups.

They named as the winner a dish made with salsa and salad dressing, which was entered by DIANE REILLY, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher from St. Albans, Vt. Newman's Own is donating $50,000 to her school, the North Avenue Christian School, and to a camp for children.

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Mr. Newman was not the only one who gave something away at the lunch, which was held at the Rainbow Room in the G.E. Building. Ms. Reilly's students had bought a snowboard for Mr. Newman, along with a voucher for 10 snowboarding lessons. Ms. Reilly said that the school had an after-school program.

''My bones are a lot more brittle than they used to be,'' Mr. Newman said, ''but I'll give it a whack anyway.''

Three-Part Name On Autobiography

The first-name-only media couples were out in force: DIANE and MIKE (SAWYER and NICHOLS), CHARLIE and AMANDA (ROSE and BURDEN), JANN and MATT (WENNER and NYE), and MARLO and PHIL (THOMAS and DONAHUE).

They crowded into Elaine's, the watering place on Second Avenue near 88th Street, for a cocktail party honoring the designer DIANE VON FURSTENBERG and her autobiography, ''Diane: A Signature Life'' (Simon & Schuster). The editor of Vanity Fair, E. GRAYDON CARTER, and the chairman of USA Networks, BARRY DILLER, sent out the invitations.

KATHARINE BETTS of Vogue and the novelist DOMINICK DUNNE, both quoted in blurbs on the book jacket, were there. But one person was noticeableby his absence: Mr. Diller, who gave Ms. Von Furstenberg a present of 29 diamonds on her 29th birthday. He was said to be stuck in meetings in California.